î--
+- HERRING G
DESCRIPTION.
thinly marked with dulky fpots. It is alfo common on moft of
the northern coafts of Europe: frequents Greenland-, but chiefly
inhabits the diftant rocks. Lays three eggs in May, placing
them on the heaps of dung which, the birds leave there from
time to time. Cackles like a Gooje. Said to attack other birds,
and to be particularly an enemy to the Eider Buck * ; though
the moll general food is fijh. Common alfo in America, as low
as South Carolina, where it is called the Old Wife f .
I have feen this from the Cape o f Good Hope; but it
meafured only twenty-two inches,: the bill as ufual: irides
hazel : back olive-colour. It is faid to breed in the bays of that
promontory, efpecially on the rocks, and fmall illes in Falfe Bay.
The young Ipotted with brown. Parkinfon likewife met with it
off the coaft of New Holland; the length not mentioned, but
defcribes it as having a high yellow beak, a lpot of fcarlet on the
gibbous part: corner of the mouth, and irides, bright fcarlet:
legs greenilh yellow ag
Earns fnfcns, Lin. SjJl. i. p. 22;. 7.—Faun. Suec. N“ 154.— Seep. Ann. i.
N° 107.— Brun. N° 142— Muller, N° 164.— Georgi Reiji, p. 171.—
Frifch. pi. 218.
Le Goiland gris, Brif. O r vi. p.. 162. 3«.
———— — à manteau gris-brun, ou le Bourgmeftre, Buf \ Oif, viii. p. 41.8*.
Herring Gull, Raii Syn. p. 127. A. 2.—Will. Orn• p. 345.— Sloane Jam. il»,
p. 322.— Br. Zool. ii. N° 246. pi. 88.— Arft. Zool. N° 452.
Lev. Muf.
J | E N G T H twenty-three, inches : breadth fifty-two : weight
thirty ounces, or more. Bill yellow -, on the lower man.-.
* Faun. Creenl. t Aril. Zool. J. See Voy, p.. 144,
dibledible
an orange fpot: irides ftraw-colour: edges of the eye-lids
red ; head, neck, and tail, white: back and wing coverts alh-
coloured: the upper part of the five firft quills black, marked ■
with a white fpot near the ends * : legs pale flelh-colour.
The young are alh-coloured, fpotted with brown ft.
The Herring Gull is common in this kingdom, and frequents the Place and
fame places as the black-backed. Said to make a nett of dead grafs, Manners.
and lay three dirty white eggs, fpotted with black. It feeds on
fijh, and is a great enemy to the Herrings, from whence the name;
is a conftant attendant on the nets, and fo bold as to feize its prey
before the filhermen’s,- faces J. Is found in moft of the northern
parts of Europe, as well as about the Cafpian and Black Seas, and
the rivers which fall into them : alfo about the great lakes of
Sihiria. Found likewife in Iceland, Greenland, and Hudfo'n’s Bay.
In winter migrates fouth, being found in Jamaica. Said to
breed on fome of the iflands on the coaft of South Carolina j
■ In BriJ/on the quills are grey brown ; the two firft have a- white fpot near
the tips, and the ends black j the tips of the two next white; the two following
have brown ends ; and the tips of all the reft white.
f -Sr. Zool.— The Moueite gri/e, Brif. vi. p. 171. feems a young bird : it is
twenty inches long. The upper parts grey, the under white : crown grey r
prime quills and tail grey, margined with rufous: the outer tail feathers white
a great way on the-inner webs. We have fuch a one in our poifeftion, differing
only in having the fcapulars of a fine pale blue grey,
$ Br. Zool. . || Aril. Zool.
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